God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

Courage, to change the things I can.

And the wisdom to know the difference.

I can recite this prayer without help. It’s one that I’ve heard since the 1980s when Jim and I were in the 12 Step program of AA and Al-Anon. It’s posted on every meeting wall and used to start or end the time together with others in recovery. Sometimes I think it is said so often that the words become almost meaningless. But that’s on me, not the prayer. I need to say it and live it with intention.

Serenity/Acceptance/Courage/Wisdom

Such powerfully wonderful character traits to aspire to. I fail on any or all of them on a daily basis. But it’s a prayer after all, not a mandate. It’s asking for the gift of these 4 things in my life. But also a challenge to do my part in accepting those gifts.

I’m asked to write a list of what I can and can’t accept. As I find myself in my 80th decade of life, I believe that if I don’t actively do something about the things I say I can’t accept, then maybe I’m accepting them. I can say I don’t accept war and discrimination and poverty and and income inequality and more and more and more…the list is so long. But am I just accepting these things if I don’t do whatever is in my power to change them?

As far as hope goes, maybe that’s what I do…hope the things I can’t accept will change. I guess in that instance, I just hold on to hope. My favorite president Barack Obama had, as his slogan, hope and change. That resonated so well with me. And when President Obama left office, I even had that hope and change would continue, only to find that is was just a mirage in the desert.

Even with that, though, I find that I still hope for change.